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Daily Reflections
by Cathy

Our Birthdays are important!

The Altar at Surmanci, Divine Mercy Shrine
  (c)Mary TV 2017

October 6, 2017

Dear Family of Mary!

I think Our Lady really likes birthdays!  Why do I think that?  Well yesterday was my birthday.  I wanted to keep it quiet, as it was just my birthday, nothing special.  And October 5 is the Feast day for St. Faustina, which is far more important!!

But I think Our Lady likes birthdays!  We were able to go to English Mass at 10:00 am, and the homily was just full of joy over St. Faustina and Divine Mercy.  I was so elated, because as you all know, I love St. Faustina!  During that homily I silently asked Our Lady and St. Faustina if they could find a way for me to go to the Divine Mercy Shrine in  Surmanci, the tiny village just over the mountain from Medjugorje.  We don’t have a car, and it seemed that we would not be able to squeeze such a visit in.

Well, directly after Mass, Franjo offered to drive us to Surmanci for a quick visit, right then!  I was so grateful!  We drove through the countryside behind Medjugorje to Surmanci. It was during this ride that I found out that I am right, Our Lady does like birthdays.
Franjo, who has been a part of the Medjugorje phenomenon since the beginning, began to share as we drove.  It was mentioned that name days are often celebrated instead of birthdays, because the saint whose name you have is more important.  But Franjo said that Our Lady loves our birthdays.  He said it is true because she revealed to the visionaries the date of her actual birthday, and asked them to fast and pray before her birthday on August 5, so she could get the graces she wanted for us.  Then she told the visionaries that our birthday should be celebrated because it stands for our life, the day we were brought into life, breathing on our own and living.  She wants us to cherish our lives and celebrate them.  Our Birthday is the day we began to move towards eternity.
Here is how Our Lady’s real birthday was celebrated in Medjugorje:

Sunday, August 5, 1984

The celebration of the second millennium of Mary’s birthday was preceded by three days of fasting and continuous prayer. Seventy priests heard confessions without rest; there were a great number of conversions. “Never in my life have I cried with sorrow, as I have cried this evening with joy. Thank you!”

In anticipation of this day Our Lady had said: “The priest who will hear confession will have great joy on that day.” During these 3 days of fasting and continuous prayer the visionaries say the Blessed Virgin was: Very Joyful. Our Lady repeated: “I am very happy, continue, continue. Continue to pray and to fast.”

Her joy seemed to have reached a peak Sunday, August 5th. Like a flower when it blooms, and full of joy, Our Lady said: “Continue, continue, open your hearts, ask God and I will ask for you.”

I realized that I should allow my birthday to be celebrated too.  And from that moment Our Lady poured on the joy.
 As we neared Surmanci, we came around a hairpin turn, and there was a deep ravine in which Surmanci is nestled.

This river runs to Mostar, and Denis remembered once walking the whole way from Mostar in the night along this river.  But that’s another story!

We drove down to the little church, arriving at about 11:30 am.

As we entered, we heard singing in Polish.  There was a pilgrimage group from Poland, celebrating Holy Mass in honor of St. Faustina!  Not only had Our Lady arranged for me to go to Surmanci, but St. Faustina had also arranged for us to be included in Holy Mass at the Shrine, surrounded by her countrymen!

Together we received Jesus, and then we were able to venerate the First Class Relics of St. Faustina and John Paul II!!  What a blessing!

We were all filled with emotion at the graces we received at the Divine Mercy Shrine in Surmanci.  Both saints, St. Faustina and St. John Paull II, were very present there.  Very present!

We drove back to the Mary TV Tea House and were greeted by Rosie and several of our shipmates, with a birthday cake with rockets on it:

Ha, Ha!!  Rosie is such a great hostess!!
Well, after that we prayed live on Mary TV and then we found out we were invited to attend an apparition at Marija’s Magnificat Center.  Another birthday present, this time from Our Lady herself.  It was such a blessing to pray with everyone gathered there, and to welcome Our Lady when she came to Marija.  (I offered all our intentions to Our Lady when she came.  It was so beautiful!)
This is the spot where Marija kneels in prayer for the apparition.
I am overwhelmed with the gifts I have received this day.  The biggest gift is a deeper understanding of how beautiful and important each of our birthdays is.  Our lives are precious and important to God and to each other.  And our birthdays are really worth celebrating.  It is healing to know that we are each wanted by God, loved by Him, precious to Jesus and to Mary, and a gift to each other.  Our Lady can teach us so much in one day in Medjugorje!

Thank you for joining me in this pilgrimage!  And thank you all for your birthday greetings.  They bless me!

More to come, from Medjugorje!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

Cathy Nolan

(c)Mary TV 2017

 

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Pope St. John Paul II – February 24, 1990

“Dear children, my real, living presence among you should make you happy because this is the great love of my Son. He is sending me among you so that, with a motherly love, I may grant you safety!”

Our Lady of Medjugorje – July 2, 2016

“Rejoice, little children, because God is merciful and loves you all with His immeasurable love and leads you to the way of salvation through my coming here!”

Our Lady of Medjugorje – June 25, 2018

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Our Lady Speaks

Vicka's Note MaryTV

Vicka, one of the visionaries in Medjugorje, wrote the note (above) after Our Lady spoke with her during an apparition in Medjugorje in April, 1999, about Mary TV’s  plan to build a television facility in Medjugorje.

Vicka wrote to Denis: “Our Lady says that the plan is good – but you need to wait a little.  Now you can get prepared little by little, until Our Lady tells when the right moment is.  You don’t need to hurry, make haste, but to be patient.”

When Our Lady said this to Vicka, the technical genius in Medjugorje that she had her eyes upon, who would begin Mary TV’s live streaming from Medjugorje, was seven years old.

Totus Tuus (Totally Yours)

Immaculate Conception, Mary my Mother, Live in me, Act in me, Speak in me and through me, Think your thoughts in my mind, Love through my heart, Give me your dispositions and feelings, Teach, lead me and guide me to Jesus, Correct, enlighten and expand my thoughts and behavior, Possess my soul, Take over my entire personality and life, replace it with Yourself, Incline me to constant adoration, Pray in me and through me, Let me live in you and keep me in this union always.

Our Lady gave this prayer 25 years before She started appearing in Medjugorje. This prayer is being answered through Our Lady’s presence in Medjugorje and through Her messages. Mother Immaculata writes: “This is Mary’s hour and She is about to crush Satan’s head. Her very being is like incandescent heat in the center of the Trinity and the manifestation of Her power is growing daily. The Immaculate Conception prayer (which is what Our Lady called the prayer she gave me for union with Her) has been used by exorcists who have told me that the devil reacts violently to it and is subdued by it. We are praying daily for the success of Mary TV!“

Our Lady Gives A Sign…

Mary_with_Sun

MARY TV was LIVE STREAMING Ivan’s May 24, 2013 apparition on Mt. Podbrdo (Apparition Hill) in Medjugorje. My wife, Cathy, was praying in front of her computer in the US, connected through the Internet, welcoming Our Lady along with everyone gathered on the mountain. She couldn’t see anything on her computer screen because it was late at night and Ivan had said, “No lights.” She found herself asking Our Lady for a sign – a little light – as a sign that MARY TV was on the right track and really serving her. Just after the apparition, when she went to give an account on Mary TV’s Facebook page, the page opened with this picture that she had never seen before, captioned: “MARY APPEARS OVER BUILDING IN MEDJUGORJE, PHOTO TAKEN BY PILGRIM.” Our Lady is standing directly over MARY TV’s studios, her feet right where we have two POV cameras STREAMING 24/7 LIVE TO THE WORLD Apparition Hill & Cross Mountain!

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Our Lady spoke to Vicka during an apparition in Medjugorje in April, 1999, about the importance of Mary TV’s mission. At that time she told Vicka that she herself (Our Lady) would begin Mary TV! She did! But she didn’t do it alone. The generosity of her children made Mary TV a reality for her. Your generosity is needed now for it to continue!